Seven or Nine?
by WhyamInotinRavenclaw
Summary: Quidditch, bets, and smacking James Potter with a well-aimed bludger. What's not to love?
1. Chapter 1

**Authoress' Note: I am but a poor uni student and do not own Harry Potter.**

Wind driving into her eyes, Rose Weasley caught a glimpse of red and hit the bludger full force towards it. She was rewarded by her eldest cousin's howl of pain and a dropped quaffle, which Ethan Chang caught. She ducked another bludger and darted after Ethan, who had just faked to Scorpius and passed to Padmaj Patil. This blasted wind made accurate passing hard, but Scorpius, being team captain, had warned them all before the game and they had certain strategies to offset it. She heard Miss Bell's whistle blow, and Emma Chang announced that the score was now 50-30, Ravenclaw.

James had the quaffle now, so she sped off looking for a bludger to hit at him. As James neared Ravenclaw's hoops, trading back and forth with Sean Thomas, Eileen Finnegan yelled at Rose and Jason to

"Knock one of those manky dodgers off his broom, or so help me I will hex you into next week."

Then Eileen caught the quaffle and tossed it to Pad. Typical Eileen: yell at everyone to get the quaffle, then catch it easily.

Rose idly hit a bludger at a blur that vaguely resembled Bridget McLaggen. 30 minutes into the first match of the season, and she'd already hit 2/3 of Gryffindor's chasers. Not a bad start. Unfortunately, McLaggen didn't drop the quaffle. Rose sighed. A beater's work is never finished. Up above her best friend, Alice Longbottom, tipped into a dive. She must have spotted the snitch. Lily Potter was two seconds behind her and, not knowing that she and Alice had spent the summer perfecting her Wronski Feint, was two seconds too late to pull up. Lily ploughed into the field, and tumbled over herself. The medic was checking on her, but as Thomas had the quaffle, Rose wasn't going to stick around to make sure Ickle Lilykins was alright. Lily was babied enough by everyone else.

Just as Rose was set to thwack Thomas upside the head with a well-aimed bludger, she heard a whistle blow three times in quick succession. Looking wistfully at Thomas, she reluctantly hit the bludger toward Miss Bell, who was now wrestling the other bludger back into its case. Not bad. Winning the seasons opening game 200 to 60 was a decent start. Rose followed the rest of the players to the ground, where in a time-honored tradition, the players lined up and congratulated the opposing team. An equally time-honored tradition was to mutter disparaging comments or gloat while high-fiving one's opponents. Rose grinned. There was no way she was letting James off easy, not when he had discouraged her from becoming a beater. Not a girl's job indeed!

Ten minutes later, they had gathered in the locker room's common area, with much celebration and congratulations. Half of the players were new to the team, and Scorpius was captain in only his second year on the team. Scorpius was now in the middle of all of them, congratulating Alice on a well-executed feint.

"Don't use it too often, or they'll expect it. Mix it up with real dives. And Finnegan, good goalkeeping, but make sure you don't drift too far right. 4 of their 5 goals were on the left hoop. Weasley…"

"Yeah?"

"Nice job, only don't only target James. I understand the temptation, but when he doesn't even have the quaffle, it's technically a foul."

"Spoilsport."

"It's in the job description."

"Custom fit for you then."

"..Touché."

Eileen's amused cough startled Rose out of the friendly insulting banter that characterized her interactions with Scorpius. She was standing, smirking, next to Alice. What were those two up to? Rose shook her head. It was time to head to the showers, half the team was already gone. She slung her arms around Eileen and Alice and pulled then with her as she walked to the showers.

"Girls, this season is going to be the best one Ravenclaw has ever seen!"

Eileen rolled her eyes, and glanced at Alice.

"I'm upping the bet to 10 Galleons"

"You're on. I still say 7 weeks, and a Hogsmeade Weekend."

"And I insist on 9 weeks and the annual New Year's Ball."

"What in Merlin's rapidly decaying underwear drawer are you two talking about?"

"You'll find out in 9 weeks."

"SEVEN!"

"NINE!"

"SEVEN!"

"Don't make me use the Jelly Legs Jinx on both of you, tell me what you're talking about!"

Eileen and Alice grinned and ran off ahead of Rose. She scowled. Her best friends should not be keeping secrets from her. She'd just start ditching them for Scorp, and see how they liked being left out. Some friends they were. Two weeks into the school year, and she was being left out of the betting pools. If one of them accidentally caught a bludger next practice, oh well! No, that was taking things a bit too far. As angry as she was, Rose didn't want to damage their chances against Slytherin. Albus had put together a great team, and Alex Zabini was still the best sodding keeping in any of the houses. Last year he had four shut-outs.

 **Authoress' Note: Shall I write more in this vein? Feedback welcome.**


	2. Bonus material

**Ravenclaw Quidditch team**

Captain/Chaser: Scorpius Malfoy, 5th year

Chaser: Ethan Chang, 6th year

Chaser: Padmaj "Pad" Patil, 6th year

Beater: Rose Weasley, 5th year

Beater: Jason Goldstein, 7th year

Keeper: Eileen Finnegan, 6th year

Seeker: Alice Longbottom, 5th year

 **Gryffindor Quidditch team**

Captain/Chaser: James Sirius Potter, 7th year

Chaser: Sean Thomas, 4th year

Chaser: Bridget McLaggen, 5th year

Beater: Hugo Weasley, 3rd year

Beater: Fred Weasley, 6th year

Keeper: Olivia Wood, 6th year

Seeker: Lily Potter, 3rd year

 **Slytherin Quidditch team**

Seeker/Captain: Albus Severus Potter, 5th year

Chaser: Henry Flynt, 6th year

Chaser: Bella Malfoy, 3rd year

Chaser: Dominique "Dom" Weasley, 4th year

Beater: Edmund Nott, 7th year

Beater: Aidan Pucey, 7th year

Keeper: Alex Zabini, 6th year

 **Prefects**

 **Hufflepuff**

Edward Macmillian, 6th year

Molly Weasley, 6th year

Kevin Smith, 5th year

Leah Kettleburn, 5th year

 **Slytherin**

Alex Zabini, 6th year

Priscilla Parkinson, 6th year

Albus Potter, 5th year

Helen Hendrickson, 5th year

 **Gryffindor**

Louis Weasley, 6th year

Ariana Creevey, 6th year

Joshua Quinn, 5th year

Bridget McLaggen, 5th year

 **Ravenclaw**

Padmaj "Pad' Patil, 6th year

Eileen Finnegan, 6th year

Scorpius Malfoy, 5th year

Rose Weasley, 5th year

 **Head Boy**

James S. Potter, Gryffindor

 **Head Girl**

Isabella Diggory, Hufflepuff (Cedric's niece)

 **Headmistress** : Minerva McGonagall

 **Potions Instructor** : Horace Slughorn

 **Herbology** : Neville Longbottom

 **Flying/ Referee** : Katherine "Katie" Bell

 **Defense against the Dark Arts:** Bill Weasley

 **Transfiguration:** Theodore "Teddy" Lupin

 **Charms:** Filius Flitwick

 **History of Magic:** Herbert Binns

 **Divination:** Firenze

 **Arithmancy:** Felicity Vector

 **Muggle Studies:** Edgar Collins

 **Care of Magical Creatures:** Newt Scamander

 **Caretaker:** Bertha Hayes

 **School Nurse:** Victoire Lupin


End file.
